In "My Puberty," artist Ilene Segalove reenacts the trials and travails of her desperate, hormonal, pubescent years. She plays herself, getting questionable advice from girlfriends, begging her mother for a bra, and falling in love for the first time---with Moondoggie in "Gidget Goes Hawaiian."

 

Ilene bought her first video camera, a Sony Portapak, from artist Nam June Paik's girlfriend; she recalled being "offended by video's invasive quality and seduced by its power." A self-described "child of Beverly Hills," Segalove began pointing the camera at "familiar things," producing quasi-documentaries about her family ("The Mom Tapes," 1973-75) and American TV culture ("TV is OK," 1976).

 

"My Puberty" appears courtesy Video Data Bank

http://vdb.org/artists/ilene-segalove

 

Interview directed and edited by Peter Kirby. 

 

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